Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine AudioFile Magazine

Vico Ortiz narrates a raucous space adventure rom-com with infectious energy. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the fun and thrills of this lively story. It’s 2061, and Cleo and her three best friends—all scientists—sneak aboard to explore the neglected rocket PROVIDENCE I. Twenty years earlier, it failed to launch and its 203-person crew mysteriously vanished. But when Cleo inadvertently starts the dark matter engine, they’re launched into a seven-year mission with only Billie, the prickly holographic computer, to guide them. Ortiz’s considerable acting talents bring each character—human and otherwise—to life. They bounce between each voice with skill, making this lively story of friendship, queer romance, and interdimensional danger heaps of fun on audio.
Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Harper Audio.
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website.
Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Zachary Levi, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Willie Nelson, and so many more!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Meridian’s clans are at war, and alliances are shifting dangerously in this dramatic conclusion to Rebecca Roanhorse’s trilogy, brought to life by an ensemble cast. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss how the narrators’ skilled performances slowly reveal the many entangled storylines. Shaun Taylor-Corbett skillfully portrays Serapio as he navigates prophecies and plots against him. Nicole Lewis voices Xiala, whose determination and desperation are palpable as she protects her island home. Naranpa, portrayed by Cara Gee, is exploring the dreaming world with dangerous consequences. Christian Barillas brings drama to the character of Lord Balam, who wields deadly shadow magic in his quest for power.
Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Simon & Schuster Audio.
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website.
Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Zachary Levi, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Willie Nelson, and so many more!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden Voice narrator Kate Reading joins host Jo Reed to discuss her career in audiobook narration. Her experience with audiobooks began with her first job at the Library of Congress’s Talking Books program, which gave her an education in audiobook narration. In their conversation, they discuss her process of narrating audiobooks, particularly the importance of embodying both characters and narrative prose, and also explore how her theater background informs her narration. They also discuss her frequent audiobook partnerships with her husband, Michael Kramer, in series like “The Wheel of Time” and “The Stormlight Archive,” and the work that goes into performing long-running series like “Lady Sherlock.”
Read reviews of Kate Reading’s audiobooks at our website.
Visit AudioFile’s website for a full list of AudioFile’s Golden Voice narrators.
Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Zachary Levi, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Willie Nelson, and so many more!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happily, another of John McPhee’s classics has been brought to life with this finely narrated audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Golden Voice narrator Edoardo Ballerini performs the work with care for the author’s eloquent descriptions of Deerfield, Massachusetts, as it evolves over the twentieth century—as does its legendary headmaster, Frank L. Boyden, who took over the school in 1902 and stayed in charge for 66 years. McPhee called this work a portrait, and he paints the picture of an elite prep school with an unusually empathetic leader. It’s the story of a man, a school, and a community.
Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Macmillan Audio.
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website.
Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Zachary Levi, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Willie Nelson, and so many more!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alan Minskoff tells host Jo Reed that what makes Golden Voice Dominic Hoffman such a fine narrator is the clarity of his delivery and his vocal agility. He sounds like he is inside Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s, brilliant mind, and he moves adroitly from the author’s knowing perspective to “signifying” in the style of African American folklore. Through this work, subtitled “Writing the Race,” historian, filmmaker, and PBS host Gates gives the listener a distinct frame through which to view African American history. This fine audiobook adds to the Harvard historian’s exceptional body of work.
Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by Penguin Audio.
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website.
Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Zachary Levi, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Willie Nelson, and so many more!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden Voice Robin Miles and Moe Egan do fine work narrating Linda Gartz’s revealing memoir of Chicago’s West Garfield Park and the author’s life, family, and experiences with race relations—especially during the 1960s. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this story of family and policy. Egan voices the author and her timbre, tone, and style are just right. The supremely talented Miles narrates the many African American voices and does them very well. This is mostly a family story of striving German Americans who stay in Garfield Park despite urban blight, which is enabled by the federal redlining policies that were crafted to harm housing opportunities for Black Americans.
Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website. Published by She Writes Press.
Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website.
Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Zachary Levi, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Willie Nelson, and so many more!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices